There is an epidemic of violence taking place, and as much as we try to shy away from stereotyping, numerous academic studies support and statistics confirm the claim made by Deborah Orr of The Independent: men are more likely to commit assault against each other and against women, than women are.

Just as the UCLA Orientation Program makes clear in their discussion about acquaintance rape, while men commit the majority of sexual assaults, the majority of men never commit a sexual assault. However, as a man, this provides little consolation when faced with this simple truth: I am at risk of committing assault. And to bring this into domestic life: in any given relationship, I am at risk of assaulting my partner, sexually or otherwise.

Now, I know that may seem like a shocking and perhaps not entirely logical conclusion, but at its heart, it suggests that as a man, I must be self-conscious of not only my actions, but also my thoughts. It suggests that society, in a sense, expects violence from men, at least insofar as it is unsurprised by it, and it is perhaps this expectation that predisposes men (and, therefore, me) to respond to stressors violently.

The Chris Brown and Rihanna incident probably comes to mind in discussing domestic violence and assault, but it is actually a more personal incident that provokes me to write. I recently learned of yet another friend whose body was taken advantage of by someone she should have been able to trust. My hands tremble with anger just to think about it, and I will admit, violent thoughts enter my head. I can only speculate what went through his mind or the minds of any other man who commits assault, but I’m certain he wasn’t thinking of her or what she wanted. His thoughts were on himself. What he wanted, he took.

Similarly, I could respond to my violent thoughts by acting on them, but then again, I would be no better then he, because just as he disregarded her desires, I would be disregarding her needs. At the root of it, my supposedly justified act of retribution would be more so for my sake than hers. I would be acting nearly as selfishly as he had.

So, then, can we conclude that men are more at risk of committing assault because they are more selfish than women are? I don’t think so. I think we are all at risk of being selfish, and if we make the assumption that most of us are good people despite that, then “being selfish” is one of the handful of personal sins for which we simply have to learn to forgive each other. We all find ourselves in situations where we want something so much we think we need it, or where we are so hurt and angry we feel the offending party deserves a share in that hurt and pain. But, it is men who more frequently take that low road and respond to desires by forcefully fulfilling them and hurt and anger by creating physical manifestations of that pain. It is a choice some men make without much thought, but often with much regret. And while minor acts of selfishness may be easily forgiven, acts of violence amount to betrayal, and betrayal is much harder to forgive.